Felicity Hoy
AKA
Felicity the Facilitator

‘My life is based on trying to do things that progressively make me ok with the fact I’m going to die.’

Felicity Hoy AKA Felicity the Facilitator works on many things including projects that make use of and transform empty or underused buildings. Her interest lies in creating something new and modern in old spaces that will provide opportunities for self-employed, creative people. She makes things happen.

The venue for Felicity’s talk is very apt. Part of Sheffield’s industrial heritage, Albert Works was once a warehouse in the heart of the city’s cultural industries quarter. Today it is the architectural award winning headquarters of Jaywing, a digital marketing agency. Sheffield’s creatives are up in the rafters of this repurposed space, to hear Felicity talk on life, death and cosmic creativity.

‘Money doesn’t drive anything we do, we just want to help people and give them somewhere to work.’

Sheffield’s disused buildings caught Felicity’s attention, and she seized opportunities to create spaces for her fellow creatives to work in. Felicity has collaborated in the set up of four active co-working spaces: Union St, Light Space Collective, Light Space Leeds and Studio One at the historic Abbeydale Picture House. All spaces where creatives and independents get together, work and create. She also co-founded Inner City Weddings, which helps Sheffield’s couples get married in some of the city’s most unusual buildings.

‘I felt like someone needed to do something about these empty spaces.’

Felicity brings together architecture, art, music and people to create a world where a building doesn’t have to become a black hole but can be reborn as a universe filled with creativity. Her events represent the true culture of the city by showcasing innovative, local, independent suppliers, musicians and creatives.

#CMdeathTo our ancestors, the fear of death was a palpable and daily motivator. Although our world is infinitely safer than it was centuries ago, we are still driven by the fear of death and we expertly attribute it to even the smallest events: traffic, deadlines, a mistake, public speaking…

What we have done well as a species is leverage the fear of death to inspire achievements that seemed impossible, to create work that needed to be made, and to discover insights that help us live well.